Sound Off -- Sept. 4, 2013

"Reagan Rules," your Sound Off really gave me a good laugh. Reagan was a liberal actor who turned conservative when it best suited his career. All he did was start the destruction of the middle class by encouraging employers to ship jobs overseas where they could pay workers hardly anything, starting a class of super wealthy people in the process.

A GENT IN NORWOOD

I'm a senior citizen who got a little lost in Norwood over the weekend, and I'd like to thank the gentleman in the red Volkswagen who pointed me in the right direction. Thank you, my friend, and God bless!

Advertisement

RIGHT AND WRONG

"Just Wondering," Kerry and Obama taking this course because of irrefutable evidence of human rights violations. Bush and Powell wanted to go into Iraq despite all the questions surrounding the intelligence they were using. Of course, we know now the intelligence was bad, and Powell later admitted they were wrong. That's the difference.

SHUT YOUR EYES

"Citizen G," you remind me of an old co-worker of mine, a former hippie who always got into trouble for challenging the establishment, turned right-wing conservative. If people want to ride bicycles naked, that's their prerogative. No one's forcing you to look.

OH CANADA

To "Canada Care No Good," I know many Canadians who are very happy with the health care they have. Saying they want surgery done in the United States is more right-wing rhetoric that's just not true. They think Obamacare is a step in the right direction -- not as good as theirs, but a good start.

GO WITH THE FLOW

To "Unions Do More Good," I couldn't agree with you more. The trucking company I just left was taking away health and retirement benefits, and that's why I'm gone. I'm with a company now getting a better wage and benefits again, and I couldn't be happy I made the change.

HOT AIR

I agree with Phil Heron 100 percent, I love the summer heat and humidity, too. I don't understand why people complain; it doesn't last that long. Who wants to scrape the ice off their windows right before they go to work? Not me.

I LOVE THE HEAT

UNIONS DELIVER

I hope all my fellow readers had a happy Labor Day, and don't forget to support unions - the folks who brought you weekends.

AND THAT'S THE TRUTH

IRELAND GETS IT RIGHT

To "Don't Trash The Earth," I went to Ireland last year and they will not permit plastic bags or bottles. All bags are paper and all bottles are returnable glass. Looking at the size of the country it wouldn't be long before it would be inundated with plastic. In a few years our own country will be buried under our own trash because it's a better bottom line for industry. Plastic is, after all, a petroleum byproduct.

FRANK FROM GLENOLDEN

BUSH WILL LOOK BETTER

To "Tommy Tryhard," I agree, and I think the same goes for George W. Bush. I think in the coming decades people will look back and see Bush had to fight a huge uphill battle. When people's thoughts on Bush aren't being shaped by "The Daily Show" and everyone else in Hollywood, I think his reputation will improve.

ONE WHO KNOWS

MIRROR, MIRROR

To "I Love Taxes," I hope you don't break your arm patting yourself on the back too hard. Keep paying them if you love them so much. Meanwhile the rest of us seniors will keep struggling not to lose our homes. Maybe if I lose mine I can give you one of my old mirrors so you can ask it if you're the fairest of them all every morning.

STRUGGLING

A NEW LOW

Out of work? Can't find a job? Employers telling you that you must take less wages than your last job? Finding more low-paying part-time jobs? Once upon a time, unions insisted that employers hire workers at a decent wage with decent benefits. Since union bashing has become popular and unions are on the decline, employers can treat their workers like trash and expect them to work for peanuts. Without unions, it's a race to the bottom!

THE END IS NEAR

We are all in for a rude awakening if Obamacare is not stopped. Everyone thinks they will have a ticket to ride but there will be no buses out there. What this nation will turn into is Medicaid-style health care. Doctors will leave because of low pay, long waits for tests and treatments. Have you looked at your EOBs currently? The providers are paid a pittance for their services! England's whole health care system is unionized and we know what unions have done to the education system in the USA. The Democrats know this is a big mistake but their egos are too large to admit it.

IMMORAL TIMES

REMEMBER NORTH KOREA

I'm glad people aren't tolerating human rights violations in Syria, but has everyone forgotten about what North Korea is doing? There are reports putting the number of North Koreans imprisoned by their government at the 200,000 mark, and evidence shows these prisons are modeled on the old gulags of the Stalin-era Soviet Union. There are no easy answers on what to do, but something has to be done.